Thursday, June 16, 2011

Following weeks of rolling strike action, Canada Post locked out its50,000 workers on the night of 14 June. Here follows an exciting personalaccount of workers fighting back and locking managers in in Edmonton.Yesterday at the Post Office: June 15th 2011 By P. Gage

Last weekend Canada Post declared a series of service cuts that reducedthe Letter Carrier work week down to three days a week. On the first dayof the service cuts there were several early morning actions wherehundreds of Letter Carriers showed up for work and demanded to delivermail that had piled up inside their depots. In Edmonton several depotstook this one step farther by sitting down inside the depot and refusingto leave. Several other depots rallied outside and marched around outsidetheir workplaces.

Following these actions the Canadian Union of Postal Workers held ademonstration on Whyte Avenue where over 300 Postal Workers marched onDepot 9, one of the largest and most militant depots in the city. When theworkers arrived at the depot they used the password on the door, which hadnot been changed, to storm the depot with camera phones in hand. Again theworkers staged an occupation with management locking themselves in theiroffice to hide from the angry mob. Workers with cameras photographed pilesof mail stuffed into the depot exposing Canada Post Corporations lie thatthere was no mail to be delivered.

Workers banged on the walls to make noise, flipped over trash cans to useas drums and banged on metal racks with sticks. This episode went on for awhile before the crowd retired to Gazebo Park down the road for speechesand a short rally. Although rowdy, the event was entirely non violent ifnot very confrontational. Many workers said afterwards that this day wasthe best moment of their lives, but the day was not even yet over.

Across town the facilities still operating were extremely tense with majorconfrontations reported with management across the board often involvinggroups of workers. As the afternoon wore on the public was told that theAir Canada Workers were about to be legislated back to work. Emboldened bythis move and in retaliation for militant action across Canada by PostalWorkers the Canada Post Corporation locked the CUPW out at 9:15pm.

As the workers filed out of the plant they noticed that about ten membersof management were staying behind, many putting up tarps over the windowsso no one could watch them operate mail equipment. Incensed the crowd wenton to erect barricades out of metal construction fences at the back gates,they turned around any trucks coming in and parked a 5-ton Canada Postvehicle in the truck gate and padlocked the mail inside.

Several hours later the management team started sending their people outto go home. The pickets locked arms and chanted "no one in, no one out".Management was informed that the workers sincerely hoped management hadbrought pyjamas. The bosses looked dejected. Then the police arrived. Theysincerely wanted to not have to intervene but said we couldn't holdmanagement forever and at some point it became unlawful confinement andsuggested we open up negotiations.

The pickets decided that an apology was in order from the Labour Relationsteam and Senior Management. If one person from the top of the managementteam came out and announced to the crowd that they were sorry fordisrespecting the picket line that evening and the previous week duringthe rotating strikes the workers would not stop them from crossing theline in order to leave. Management categorically refused. Our next offerwas to have them come out and walk through a small gap in our lines andboard cabs waiting outside. Their personal vehicles were to remain outsideand over 100 angry postal workers would see them off. We agreed on a pathof travel, the crowd agreed to stick to where they were and heckle.

When management left the building they quickly veered to the right andmade for a gap in the side of the building walking past their personalvehicles but not entering them. The police officer in charge was visiblydispleased at them breaking the agreement. The crowd surged forward withcamera phones in front jeering and heckling the bosses as they left thebuilding. The event was rowdy but no one was even shoved, the workersremained disciplined, not by some outside force but by their own rank andfile members giving each other encouragement.

This day was the high water mark in years of struggle for severalmilitants in the Post Office and there is no doubt we will carry thisstory with us for the rest of our lives. But it is also just thebeginning. Yesterday workers got a taste of their own power and made thefirst step towards taking back control over their own work. This won't endwith a new collective agreement and it will continue when we all walk backinto the post office with our heads held high.